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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1984)
uston Reactions to ‘Something about Amelia’ come in from across nation, B-CS See page 3 Local senior citizens find fun and games "•“'/‘‘"♦S’*: See page 6 The Battalion ,amar Serving the University communily .Thonu Vol 78 No. 73 USPS 0453110 12 pages College Station, Texas Wednesday, January 11, 1984 old snap causes campus damage by Ronnie Crocker Battalion Staff The recent prolonged freezing jell, which sent temperatures plung- intothe low teens during the worst leeze to hit this area in many years, used at least $160,000 worth of mage to dormitories and on- tnpus buildings, including the [edital Sciences Building. Damage was reported in at least six Irmitories, including I.eggett, Haas ■d at least one Corps dorm. Walton d Hart halls were the hardest hit. nid, 1“ ie full extent of the damage won’t d to ice,II the" ;ht , their M ntoari' conic® theii enditiw pic iw chanjp ;s-W renio'i llybe known until all the on-campus idents have arrived. Water damage in many buildings d dormitories on campus, caused omen® broken pipes, will cost between ,000 and 580,000 to repair, phy- onewfci plant director Joe Estill said. ' ' The $60,000 to $80,000 figure esn't include the damage done to |e Medical Science Building. Ron Sasse, associate director for jdentaffairs, said that the Universi- is not legally responsible or liable led aM r damage to students belongings. nships sagoni mbursed for damage to their per- d 11 set idainai hange a S SO' Taraso arvill jetitors a and ‘ of the illegal, ich Dea e should tied uerrillas stage two m French forces in Beirut ro is ogram their ai ig as id t is an ership. ting, win adents need to have insurance to he al property. However, Sasse said that his office is trying to find a way to help the students concerned. He said he felt a “moral responsibility,” but admitted he didn’t know what could be done. Many students and faculty mem bers are beginning to realize the ex tent of the damage as they return for the spring semester. Freshman Carol Cook’s arrival at Texas A&M about 3:80 p.m. Tuesday was an unpleasant experience, to say the least. She entered ner dorm room to Find ruined furniture, shoes, pic tures and a possibly damaged re frigerator and television set. For her roommate, Jamie Piehl, a junior health and physical education major from Woodsboro, it was less of a surprise because she had been noti fied Jan. 5 that their First floor room in Underwood Hall had been flooded when a water pipe broke in the recent hard freeze. But Cook, an aerospace engineer ing major from Uvalde, was com pletely surprised. As she looked around the mildewed room at the warped wood of the beds and desks and at the black mold growing on her mattress, she said, “I don’t want to move my stuff in.” Piehl said she had to have a mainte nance man open the drawers under her bed with a crowbar. Cook and Piehl weren’t the only ones affected by water damage. Three other rooms in Underwood also were damaged by the gushing wa ter flowing out of the cracks in the pipes that had burst, and frozen water pipes burst in at least 35 other build ings on campus. Estill said the water wasn’t turned off anywhere over tfie holidays except in the Halbouty Geosciences Building because there is no electricity in that building. He also said that leaving faucets dripping will not prevent water from freezing in the pipes in buildings as it does in houses. It only will prevent a f reeze at the faucet itself. Estill said he had about 90 percent of his people working over the holi days cleaning up the mess caused by the broken pipes. Custodians were vacuuming water out of rooms in Ramp A of Walton Hall Tuesday. Outside were piles of rolled up carpet and carpet padding. Frank Nicolas, manager of the married student apartments, said that there were a few broken water pipes but very little apartment and personal damage there. Michael A. White, administrative planning analyst for the College of Medicine, said there were several breaks of both hot and cold water lines, mostly in the north face of the building. In that building, which has been open since July, there are pumps that are designed to send not water through a coil to heat the water pipes when temperatures dip below the freezing mark. White said a possible reason for the broken pipes is that the pumps may have been wired backward and didn’t circulate the water. In two other cases, the switch plate for the pumps were put on backward, meaning that the pump wasn’t on even though the switch was in the “on” position. White estimated that it will cost $100,000 to cover damages done to ceilings, carpets and equipment in the building. White added that “several tens of thousands of dollars” worth of equipment will have to be checked for damages. — — At Prairie View A&M University the damage was extensive enough to delay the beginning of the spring semester. Hot and cold water is sche duled to be returned to the campus Jan. 14. attacks Dean Saito, Battalion staff United Press International BEIRUT — Guerrillas staged two rts batliacks against French peace-keeping rces Tuesday, soon after Syrian- teked rebels dashed hopes for a banese peace plan by demanding Tievart iw concessions from the Beirut gov pment. There were two simultaneous that tb iscks," said French spokesman Col. absoli® lilippe DeLongeaux. There were no sualties, unlike attacks in die pre- )us two days that killed a French never# ratrooper and a U.S. marine. DeLongeaux said a guard post at ie all t 6heavily fortified French Embassy, have arthe ruins of the former Amer- n0 re ill n Embassy, was attacked with light it certaii says CalW U.S. Marines on guard around the ilding dove for cover. There were very se#reports of new U.S casualties. At the same time, two rocket- opelled grenades were fired at a sition that French troops share with jout tlifi Lebanese army about a mile from :e couf Trench Embassy. Earlier, the Lebanese army and Sy- •backed Druze Moslem rebels ex- v any i# sour tl# The ft® There ire a UFF BY BOB DDSO 324-25 1 changed mortar and machine-gun fire around the key crossroads of Khalde, on the coastal highway just south of the U.S. Marine base at Beirut Airport. The attacks came after the rebels dashed hopes for a peace plan to halt fighting around Beirut by issuing a statement demanding sweeping changes in the Lebanese army and the cancellation of the U.S.-mediated May 17 Israeli-Lebanese troop with drawal agreement. The rebel statement, issued by the office of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in Damascus, followed a meeting of the Syrian-sponsored National Salva tion Front, which opposes the govern ment of Lebanese President Amin Gemayel. It said the opposition figures* “agreed to the necessity of finding a comprehensive political solution to keep the Arab identity of Lebanon, its unity and liberty.” It said they would counter Christ ian Phalange Party control of the gov ernment through “the scrapping of the May 17 agreement, reforming the army structure to make it into a na tional army acceptable to all Lebanese before giving it security missions.” The army is also under Phalange con trol. The refusal to let the army under take “security missions” was a clear rejection of the government’s attempts to arrange a limited peace plan covering an area from Beirut to Israeli lines about 20 miles to the south. The government’s plan was to be a first step toward extending its author ity throughout Lebanon, with the ulti mate goal of restoring a sovereign na tion. On Monday, the foreign ministers of Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia adjourned in the Saudi capital with out any progress toward restoring peace to the largely occupied nation. The ministers are to resume their discussions in Morocco Jan. 16, but Syria made clear it objects to the agreement with Israel under which Lebanon offered economic and milit ary concessions for an Israeli promise to withdraw. Syria’s official radio said that “the May 17 accord remains the major stumbling block foiling attempts to unify Lebanon. “The Americans and the Israelis are in the same trench,” Damascus radio said. “Because of that, the Lebanese should not yield to Amer ican pressure aimed at persuading them to keep the May 17 accord.” Israel, backed by the United States, insists on implementation of the agreement and withdrawal of Syrian troops, while Syria refuses to pull its troops out until the accord is can celed. Lebanon’s Moslem Prime Minister, Chefik Wazzan, said the Saudi meet ing “did not secure all the solutions we had been waiting for,” but was a step toward resuming a conference of war ring Lebanese factions that first met in November in Geneva. But Pierre Gemayel, father of Pres ident Amin Gemayel and the head of the Christian Phalange Party, said there was no progress in the meeting. Physical Plant workers get ready to leave after cleaning out most of the damaged material from A-ramp in Walton Hall. The carpet was ruined when freezing temperatures caused water pipes to burst. Registration begins The following is a schedule of im portant dates for this semester: Wednesday, Jan. 11 — Delayed reg istration begins, Drop/Add begins. Friday, Jan. 13 — Delayed registra tion ends. Saturday, Jan. 14 (noon) — Last day for students who registered during delayed registration to pay fees. Monday, Jan. 16 — Spring Semester Classes begin, Late Registration be gins, Last day for students to pay fees. Friday, Jan. 20 — Last day to enroll in the University for spring semester. Last day for adding new courses, Late registration ends. NOTE: Card packets for late registra tion of students who were enrolled in Texas A&M during the Fall 1983 semester, can be obtained at the stu dent’s major department. Transfer students’ and readmitted graduate students’ card packets are with their deans. Graduate students’ card pack ets are with their major departments. Fees will be collected at the Rudder Exhibit Hall from Monday, Jan. 9 to Tuesday, Jan. 17. from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 14 from 8 a.m. until noon. After Jan. 17, all fees will be collected at the Fiscal Depart ment in the Coke Building. Any stu dent who registers or pays fees after the first class day of the spring semes ter, Jan. 16, will be assessed a late fee of $10. Gramm: Federal budget could cure deficit woes by Karen Wallace Battalion Staff U.S. Rep. Phil Gramm, candidate forthe Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Tower, said Tuesday the j-nH tat way to deal with the deficit in hev W-' ^ e ^ n ‘ tec * States is to budget feder- y al government spending. “We should put the federal gov- jj trnmenton a budget like everybody 01 'hi! e ' se " sa '^ at t ^ ie f'°^ e ge Station iSWlln' Apartment Association banquet at theAggieland Inn. Gramm said that a balanced ie grass yg et C0U 1 C J be achieved in five the Othj fears if the federal government was he neilf puton a budget that would control spending on some programs and eli minate other programs, you'll W This would be difficult because jnd fall* *htne of the federal programs are loo important to be cut, he said. “You can’t cut Medicare, and be- , cause of the recent Soviet threats can’t cut defense,” he said. “Other areas must be cut.” Although it would be difficult to iecide what to cut and how much to ipend on each program, budgeting ‘ederal spending in this manner is he best solution, Gramm said. There are two ways to deal with Ihedeficit, he said. U.S. Rep. Phil Gramm “We could stay with the programs that are working and go back to con trolling the government spending like it calls for, or we could raise the taxes,” he said. This decision will be made in the 1984 election, Gramm said. “If we froze the federal spending at the current level, in 3 years we would have a balanced budget with out cutting a single program. But of course, that’s impossible.” Gramm said that in 1981, a 3-year program to put control on federal spending was implemented. Howev er, because the program was im plemented in the midst of the reces sion, it was not as successful as it could have been, he said. Still, Gramm said the control on federal spending revitalized the eco nomy, giving 4 million people jobs and promising a sound economy in 1984, Gramm said. Gramm said controlling govern ment spending would also bring down mortgage rates. “We can bring the mortgage rates down if we deal with the deficit problem,” Gramm said. Gramm said that when he bought his first house in College Station, he had a loan at 6 percent interest. His second house had a loan at 7 and one-quarter percent, he said. “The old interest rates could come back if the deficit problem is dealt with by controlling federal spending,” he said. Tower says Middle East needs Marines’ support United Press International WASHINGTON — Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Tower and Sen. John Warner, R-Va., just back from the Mideast, said Tues day withdrawing the Marines from Lebanon — or even setting a six- month deadline — would be “dis astrous.” At a joint news conference, Tower, R-Texas, and Warner called for more economic and military aid for Leba non and rejected suggestions the Marines be redeployed to higher ground in Beirut or to U.S. ships for improved security. Tower said he had “reservations and concerns” about the American role in Lebanon before the trip, but those were eliminated after speaking to Middle East officials. “Based on our meetings with offi cials in the region, it is absolutely clear that a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Lebanon without substantial evidence of diplomatic success, would have a disastrous effect upon continued U.S. influence throughout the vitally im portant Middle East and perhaps else where,” a joint statement by the sena tors said. “It is important that the superpow er of the West not appear to suffer a defeat at the hands of the Syrians and, indirectly, the Soviet Union,” Tower told reporters. Tower and Warner met with Presi dent Reagan at the White House for 30 minutes to report on their seven- day, five-nation tour of the Middle East that ended Monday. The two GOP senators met with government and military officials in Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. “The first question the president asked was, ‘What is the morale of the Marines?”’ Warner said. “We assured the president that morale is high,” Warner said. “The Marines would be the last in the world to say we ought to turn tail and run,” Tower said. “We impressed upon the president we have to deal with Syria on very strong terms diplomatically” to achieve peace in the area, Warner said. In their prepared statement, the senators said, “Middle East leaders believe that Syria’s position of influ ence in the region will be greatly en hanced by a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. Marines, as she will be perceived to have successfully resisted the Un ited States, while moderate Arab states friendly to the United States will be weakened. “There is no real difference be tween setting a time limit of six months on the U.S. military presence in Lebanon and an immediate with drawal; in their view, the effects will be the same,” the statement said. “With regard to the situation of U.S. Marines in Lebanon, the com mander of the U.S. multinational force contingent appears to be mak ing maximum effort to further re duce the vulnerability of U.S. per sonnel. “It is our view that none of the op tions being considered for the rede ployment on land of U.S. peace keeping forces would result in a signi ficant enhancement of the security of U.S. personnel over their current de ployment; to the contrary, such re positioning may actually increase the vulnerability of U.S. personnel,” the statement said. Tower told reporters some U.S. military officers believe the Marines should not have been sent to Lebanon iti the first place, but “now that they are there, realize the political con sequences of a withdrawal would be disasterous.” Tower would not estimate the amount of aid that would be needed, saying only that “it’s not really a whole lot.”